P.S. I need to find a job working for a U.S. company that has one of these. Forget Canada companies I know how difficult it is for an american business man to get a job working for one of them. We own a major Canada insurance operation and have problems transferring our own people their for work.

This is nothing new. Much if the salmon water in NB is private, and has been for as long as I can remember. By the same token, a good deal of water -- and some of it is very good water -- is owned by the Province and is kept open to the public. The only thing new contained in the article is that there was some heated bidding for some of the water. (The water on the Restigouche leased by the publisher of the Bangor Daily News mentioned in the last article listed is, if I am not mistaken, a beautiful stretch with a beautiful camp. I have never fished it, but a friend of mine has. He said it was quite the experience.)

The first water I fished in NB was owned by a friend's company. When that company sold its timerland in Canada to a Canadian corporation, a condition of the sale was that the salmon water go along with it. While the Maine company had allowed the water to be fished -- for a fee -- by the general public, the Canadian corporation restricted the water to its exclusive use. Last year, I believe, the Canadian corporation started allowing fish-for-fee on a limited basis. When I get back to NB this summer, I plan on fishing the water if space is available.

That Canadian company also purchased a number of other pools on the SW Miramichi over the last 15 years or so. At least two of those pools had been privately held before the purchase, but the former owners had allowed the water to fished, without fee, by the general public. The Canadian corporation immediately closed the pools. I don't know what the pools' status is now, but my guess is that they are still closed.

In response to your P.S. I don't believe too many US companies own salmon water any more. The only ones that may are the forest products companies -- International Paper comes to mind as one that might still own water in NB. I believe -- but I could very well be wrong about this -- the IRS stopped recognizing fishing trips as a deductible business expense about 15 years ago. Consequently, companies that couldn't otherwise justify owning salmon water sold it.

On the subject of private v. public water, I only know what I read. Below is something I clipped from a recent post on salmonanglersonline.com.

I was in attendence at the lease auction yesterday. In his opening remarks, Minister Volpe stated that roughly 10% or 130 kms. of water were up for bids.
These waters were on the Restigouche, Kegwick, Upsalquitch, Tabusintac, Little SW Miramichi, NW Miramichi and Sevogle Rivers. There are no crown leases on the other rivers you mentioned.
The Main SW Miramichi is somewhat unique in that there are no CROWN leases no Crown reserved waters, only crown open (public) and private riparian waters on this river.
The Restigouche drainage has next to no public access, unless you are a NB resident, then you can, through a lottery system, fish waters on all rivers in the drainage that are some of the finest on the globe . The remainder of the system is either Crown lease, private riparian or in Quebec.
There was on lease stretch Cruickshank on the Sevogle that was withdrawn from the auction as there were no bids. This will now become some sort of Crown Reserve water, at least that's what we were told.
The Cains has a smattering of private riparian water, the remainder is public domain except for a piece up river (a former lease) that is now daily crown reserve, and for the most part sought after by a handful of residents for catch and release BIG sea run brook trout.
As you can see by the above NB has what I consider an excellent mix of water, lots of crown open water, crown reserved water for NBr's only on all rivers that have crown leases, private riparian, and crown leases (lease holders contribute heavily to NB coffers through annual fees, employment, are superb stewards of the resource and are major financial suppoters in conservation) that at the end of the day benefits NB residents (man-o-man I know that statement will be a source of debate).
At any rate, keep the faith and take a kid fishing
Ensor

If "Ensor" is Bill Ensor, he may be the former outdoor specialist for the New Brunswick Department of Tourism.

just looking at old threads and this one caught my eye.
One factor that people dont often know about is that now the private lodges on the Restigouche and other rivers have to provide their own wardens for the river. The poaching has gotten worse and in talking to the guides on the restigouche they say that the poaching is worse than anyone could even imagine.